


Alone

by Lily_Rhonin



Series: Emotions [3]
Category: League of Legends
Genre: 200 years, Death, Fights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26263768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Rhonin/pseuds/Lily_Rhonin
Summary: You're never alone. Whenever it's cold let the shadows takehold.
Series: Emotions [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904893
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Alone

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't already, I highly recommend listening to Aphelio's Theme while or before reading this. Thank you! 

Cold.

It was always cold.

Aphelios knelt on the edge of the sheer precipice that overlooked a small outcropping of stone and grass. Fragile life that clung to the face of Mount Targon. 

Just as fragile as his targets.

Always so, so fragile.

Closing his eyes, he held out a hand. He didn’t need to ask. What he envisioned in his mind was what would materialize in his palms. 

Alune never let him down.

_ Calibrum, dear brother. _

Sure enough, with a soft fizzle, the length of the shimmering blue weapon, carved from the moonlight itself, became matter in his hands. A gentle heft. Another soft whirr. He stood from his concealed spot and focused on his targets. A pair of Solari soldiers posted on this doomed plateau, he took aim.

Breath.

As he had seen in his mind, the weapon fired. Quiet except for the sound of a life ending as first one, then the other soldier dropped to the ground, their complexions now unnaturally pale as their souls left their body to join with the mountain.

Aphelios sunk to the ground with a soft sigh.  _ It doesn’t need to be like this. _

_ They left us no choice, brother. _

_ I know. _

He pushed off the rock face he had leaned against and slipped into the shadows offered by a scant overhang. Scarcely big enough to tread on, but certainly large enough to conceal his presence as he edged past the Solari guards strung along this cursed corner of this sacred mountain. The crunch of their footsteps on the crumbled rock of the path was the only indication he had that there was anyone up there.

It was all he needed.

When their footsteps faded from his ears, he stepped behind the god-carved stone pillar the Solari had erected along the path.

They had put them up as a symbol of their faith to the sun and a shield to their people.

Now, it would serve as their downfall.

Again, Aphelios held out his hand. All he had to do was dream. All he had to do was share a dream with Alune, and she was there.

_ Gravitum, dear brother. _

It formed in his hand without pause, its completed form glimmering faintly in his hands.

These weapons Alune entrusted him with were beautiful, and it was a pity he never had time to stop and admire their delicate details. When he had need of them, being distracted was an offer to forfeit his life. 

Again, he aimed. Again, he fired. His aim was precise, but this time, not lethal. Instead, it left a row of moon-dazed Solari warriors, trapped like vermin beneath the paws of a star cat as he rapidly changed the weapon in his hand, his call to Alune met with instantaneous cooperation that yielded a deadlier weapon- a crescent blade.

It made no noise as it pierced its targets, and again, the only indication that anything had even transpired was the soft thump of lifeless bodies falling to the cold mountain rock.

Aphelios breathed.  _ Breath _ . 

_ Their sacrifice is no greater than yours, brother. _

He blinked in acknowledgement and turned. It was not much further now. The heart of the Solari was close. He could feel it. The path ahead now empty except the lifeless corpses of the Solari, he returned to the shadows, stepping over their bodies gingerly as he advanced deeper into the Solari’s turf. There was no going back now, and he knew as much. If he hesitated now, he would die, and the Lunari would be no closer to redemption than they had been when he first stepped foot here.

Suddenly, from a great distance behind him, there was a shout of warning, and Aphelios glanced back over his shoulder. The first body had undoubtedly been discovered. He had little time remaining.

_ Hurry, brother! Our time grows short. _

_ I know. _

He blinked once more, then faced forward. He could not waste this opportunity. He would not waste it. Remaining in the shadows, if only to buy himself a few more seconds, he picked up the pace, darting around the fallen bodies until he reached the next ascent in the path. The crumbling rock beneath his feet made stealth difficult, but at this point, he had left a deadly crumb trail to his location, and it would not be long before the Solari had picked up on it.

Faster he went, until the cold night air was biting his face. It stung, but the pain was nothing compared to the intense grip of the muscles surrounding his throat. They clamped without mercy as he ran, restricting his breathing, making his muscles scream as they were deprived of oxygen.  _ Not now! _

_ You are close! _

He narrowed his eyes and forced himself to slow down, the pebbles beneath his feet suddenly agonizingly loud. But once he had taken the time to listen, he realized he was alone.

Far below, where he had first entered the mountain abode of the Solari, he could hear them, yes- but they had not pursued him this far.

Not yet.

Or so he thought.

The world around him suddenly blazed white as his eyes were overwhelmed with light, and he stumbled back with a soft gasp, dimly aware of the steep, blanched cliff-face as he pushed into it instinctively. He stood like that for a long minute, until Alune’s voice shattered his consciousness.

_ Aphelios, move! _

He obeyed without hesitation, jerking to the side before dropping into a roll, calling out silently to Alune for something, anything to defend himself. 

_ Severum, brother! _

Heavy in his hand, he lashed out, letting the weaponized moonlight cut through the blazing sunlight. As if sensing he was finally fighting back, the sunlight abruptly faded, giving Aphelios a chance to take in his surroundings.

Alone he stood, facing a tall woman with fiery auburn hair, dressed in the armor and trappings of a Solari. But something was different about her. Something…

_ There is the sun and the moon. This is the aspect of the sun. _

Aphelios felt his blood run cold, and he instinctively raised Severum as he stepped back, moving to circle the woman. She did not move, and he would not have believed her to be anything but a statue had she not narrowed her eyes in return.

“You tread far into our sacred grounds, Lunari.”

Her voice rumbled like low thunder, and Aphelios paused. He could not speak to her, and she could not hear Alune. She needed to die. She was no less of an obstacle than those who had fallen before her- and her comrades were undoubtedly halfway up the mountain by now. If he did not act fast, there was no doubt in his mind that his mission would come to an end here and now.  _ Sister, Infernum. _

The moment he spoke, he spun and fired. He trusted Alune, and he knew she had heard him, even without responding. White hot flame, infused with the deepest blues of the night sky, scathed the ground before him, giving way to a blast that shook the mountainside as Aphelios rolled again, cursing in his mind as a sword cleaved the air where he had stood less than a second ago. Despite her heavy armor and hefty longsword, she was quick on her feet, and Aphelios immediately understood he could not underestimate her.

They spun and twirled in a deadly dance of fire and sunlight, steel and moonlight, Aphelios breathing heavily as blow after blow glanced off her armor. The moonlight should have scalded her, but she only seemed to grow more fierce with every attack- where he was tiring.

_ Sister, I need you. _

_ I am here, brother. _

With a hoarse shout that made his throat clamp shut in wrathful agony, Aphelios lunged forward, allowing the last of his moonlight bleed out through Infernum as it burned the air before him in another fiery show of inferno and moonlight, forcing himself to focus on the spot he had last seen the sun-blessed aspect before the world turned white. 

_ Burn beneath the moon’s white light! _

Another flash of light, and the earth around his was cleansed in another pulse of bright white moonlight. 

It was his own light that blinded him to the cut of the blade that bit into his side. His own light that blinded him until he fell, and found himself unable to move. Only when it faded and he brought a hand to his face did he see the skin of his palm and fingers stained with the deep scarlet of deoxygenated blood as his life force began to ebb into the mountain he had fought so long to be a part of.

_ Sister… _

_ I’m sorry! _

_ I failed. _

He was dimly aware of the crunch of steel-clad footsteps approaching him. Scarcely aware of the flaming woman who was regarding him with a mixture of sorrow and reminiscence.    
  
_ I don’t want to die alone here. I just...wanted the Lunari…. _

He closed his eyes. He couldn’t see anything anymore anyway. Shadows were creeping up to him, slowly pulling him down with them, to a place where he couldn't feel the bottom, and there was no air.

_ You’re not alone. I’ll find you. _

**Author's Note:**

> Hi hello, just more finger-stretching and water testing for some different skills and stuff for Arclight! Thank you for reading- I hope you enjoyed watching 200 years getting sauced. ♥ 
> 
> Interested in learning what I'm working on next or what else I'm up to? Check out my twitter


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